Preventive Service Planning
Abstract
This document details the known problems and limitations for IBM Storage Defender.
Content
Limitations
Concurrent IBM Storage Protect restore jobs would interfere with each other's timeouts (internal reference #STGDEF-3968)
Problem: If multiple IBM Storage Protect restore jobs are run simultaneously, it is possible that some jobs will unexpectedly prematurely time out or take longer than expected to time out.
Workaround: Run only one IBM Storage Protect restore job at a time, or start larger jobs after smaller ones have already started.
Limitation area: IBM Storage Defender Data Resiliency Service, restores of recovery groups backed up by IBM Storage Protect
Limitation: since 3/2025 with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.12. Solved at 06/2025 with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.14.
Recovery job never ends if target datastore runs out of space (internal reference #STGDEF-3962)
Problem: If a restore from IBM Storage Protect fills the target datastore, the recovery job can continue running indefinitely rather than fail.
Workaround: Check the target datastore before staring an IBM Storage Protect restore job to ensure it has enough space for the resources being restored.
Limitation area: IBM Storage Defender Data Resiliency Service, restores of recovery groups backed up by IBM Storage Protect
Limitation: since 3/2025 with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.12. Solved at 04/2025 with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.13.
Generated recovery groups handle non-safeguarded as safeguarded snapshots (internal reference #875)
Problem: Generate groups does not differentiate between FlashSystem snapshots which are safeguarded or not. Thus all VMs running on a FlashSystem disk with a snapshot policy are added to corresponding recovery groups. These groups will fail the governance profile validation as that only considers safeguarded copies as secure and ignores non secure snapshots.
Workaround: Adjust the governance profile, accordingly.
Limitation area: IBM Storage Defender Data Resiliency Service, automatic generation of recovery groups.
Limitation: since 12/2024 with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.10.
Generate groups may create identical recovery groups (internal reference #2287)
Problem: If generate groups is performed several times in a row, it might create some recovery groups for the same set of VMs multiple times. This could happen for large groups.
Workaround: Archive the surplus recovery groups.
Limitation area: IBM Storage Defender Data Resiliency Service, automatic generation of recovery groups.
Limitation: since 12/2024 with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.10. Solved at 03/2025 with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.12.
Generate groups creates adds VMs protected by Spectrum Protect or Dell PowerMax snapshots to the unprotected recovery groups (internal reference #825)
Problem: Generate groups adds VMs to recovery groups based on their protection by IBM Storage Defender Data Protect and FlashSystem. Whether or not a VM is protected by IBM Spectrum Protect or by Dell PowerMax snapshots is not considered.
Workaround: Remove such VMs from the generated group with the label "unprotected" and add the to your own recovery groups.
Limitation area: IBM Storage Defender Data Resiliency Service, automatic generation of recovery groups.
Limitation: since 12/2024 with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.10. Solved at 02/2025 with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.11.
The recovery of recovery groups from IBM Storage Flash System safeguarded snapshots is limited to virtual machines that are stored on the same volume. (Internal reference #4405, #520)
Problem: The recovery of recovery groups from IBM Storage Flash System safeguarded snapshots is limited to virtual machines that are stored on the same volume. More specifically, all virtual machines that belong to the recovery group must have all related VMDK files in the same vSphere datastore and this datastore must belong to a single volume in the IBM Storage Flash System.
Workaround: None
Limitation area: IBM Storage Defender Data Resiliency Service
Limitation: Since 05/2023, with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.4. Solved at 12/2024 with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.10.
Sometimes the message 'no recovery points found' exists in the event log (internal reference#5150)
Problem: In the event log sometimes exists for a VM the message 'no recovery points found for resource'. This event log message is not every time correct. If it is a short time issue, then it will be resolved with the next inventory run.
Workaround: n/a
Limitation area: IBM Storage Defender Data Resiliency Service
Limitation: Since 05/2023, with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.4. Solved at 06/2024 with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.5.
FlashSystem snapshot restore to data reduction pool with self-compressing drives leaves the storage pool in an error state (internal reference#5054)
Problem: A snapshot test recovery performed from IBM Storage Defender can leave the FlashSystem in a state, where new volume creation is blocked in cases where the target storage pool is a data reduction pool composed of self-compressing Flash Core Modules.
Problem Verification: When in this state, the FlashSystem blocks test restores with the following warning message:
Warning
This data reduction pool contains thin-provisioned volumes with compression disabled, and also contains compressed drives.
As a result, available usable capacity cannot be determined for this pool.
Therefore, this pool is not available for new volumes to reduce the risk of running out of usable capacity in this pool.
Workaround: Convert the thin cloned volume to compressed and deduplicated immediately after it is created.
Limitation section: IBM Storage Defender Data Resiliency Service
Limitation: Since 05/2023, with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.4. Solved at 07/2024 with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.6.
Inaccessible datastores are still present in the vCenter after cleanup of a restore job. (internal reference#5106)
Problem: After a cleanup of restored VMs completes, the datastores used for the restore are still visible but inaccessible in the vCenter. The storage backing up the datastores is no longer mapped to the ESXi host.
Workaround: Running a new restore or manually rescanning the ESXi host's storage removes the datastores.
Limitation area: IBM Storage Defender Data Resiliency Service
Limitation: Since 05/2023, with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.4. Solved at 06/2024 with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.5.
The recovery of recovery groups from IBM Storage FlashSystem safeguarded snapshots is limited to snapshots that are not older than 7 days. (Internal reference #4409)
Problem: The recovery of recovery groups from IBM Storage FlashSystem safeguarded snapshots is limited to snapshots that are not older than 7 days. More specifically, due to a technical limitation in IBM Storage Defender Data Resiliency Service safeguarded snapshots that are older than 7 days cannot be detected in the inventory. This implies that the recovery of older snapshots is not possible.
Workaround: For the recovery use snapshots that are not older than 7 days.
Limitation area: IBM Storage Defender Data Resiliency Service
Limitation: Since 05/2023, with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.4. Solved at 06/2024 with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.5.
A newly created recovery group shows the most recent IBM Storage FlashSystem safeguarded snapshots only. (Internal reference #4778)
Problem: A newly created recovery group shows the most recent IBM Storage FlashSystem safeguarded snapshots only. More specifically, if you create a new recovery group that contains resources that are protected with IBM Storage FlashSystem only the most recent snapshot is detected and stored in the inventory. Further snapshots that are created after the recovery group was created will be added to the list of recovery points automatically.
Workaround: None
Limitation area: IBM Storage Defender Data Resiliency Service
Limitation: Since 05/2023, with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.4. Solved at 06/2024 with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.5.
A new “Activate Recovery Plan“ process can be started before the validation of the former process is finished. (Internal reference #3306)
Problem: After the recovery of the Recovery Group is finished, the recovery must be validated in the IBM Storage Defender Data Resiliency Service UI. A new “Activate Recovery Plan“ process of the same Recovery Point must be prevented until the recovery was validated. In the current version of the IBM Storage Defender Data Resiliency Service, it is possible to start a new “Activate Recovery Plan“ process before the validation of the former process is finished.
Workaround: None
Limitation area: IBM Storage Defender Data Resiliency Service
Limitation: Since 12/2023, solved at 05/2024 with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.4.
The prefix and postfix used to name the virtual machines that are part of a recovery is not logged in IBM Storage Defender Data Resiliency Service. (Internal reference #3202)
Problem: When you use the scheduled or manual recovery of a virtual machine, the newly created virtual machine is placed in an automatically generated folder and is named with the prefix “IBM_“ and the postfix “_YYMMDDhhmmss“. This information is displayed in the validation process in the UI but not logged in the history log of the product. The user needs this information later to identify the virtual machine for renaming or deletion. When the validation process is finished, this information cannot be found in the product UI again.
Workaround: Make sure that the identifier of the virtual machines is copied in the UI and saved for later usage.
Limitation area: IBM Storage Defender Data Resiliency Service
Limitation: Since 12/2023 with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.0. This is a permanent restriction. The workaround is added in the IBM Documentation Recovery groups>Recovery group details>Protection in the section "Initiate the validation of a recovery point":
"Note: Ensure that you copy the resource information that is displayed as part of the validation process. You will need this information to find the recovered resources in the vCenter for renaming or removal".
A Recovery Point is created based on inventory information that is provided for IBM Storage Defender Data Protect (Internal reference #3267)
Problem: A Recovery Point is created based on inventory information that is provided for IBM Storage Defender Data Protect. If the inventory includes a new backup version of the virtual machines, those virtual machines are part of the Recovery Group. The Recovery Group is validated and potentially a new Recovery Point is created. If the backup version is removed from IBM Storage Defender Data Protect, the Recovery Point is not revalidated and can be used for recovery. Due to the lack of backup data, this recovery fails. The missing revalidation of the Recovery Point is a limitation of the IBM Storage Defender Data Resiliency Service.
Workaround: None
Limitation area: IBM Storage Defender Data Resiliency Service
Limitation: Since 12/2023 with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.0, solved at 03/2024 with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.2.
The number of IBM Storage Defender Sensor Control Nodes is limited to one instead of many. (Internal reference #3390)
Problem: The maximum number of IBM Storage Defender Sensor Control Nodes that can be added to a single tenant is limited to one. This limitation will be lifted in a future version of IBM Storage Defender Data Resiliency Service to allow many Control Nodes to be added to a single tenant.
Workaround: None
Limitation area: IBM Storage Defender Data Resiliency Service
Limitation: Since 12/2023 with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.0, solved at 02/2024 with IBM Storage Defender 2.0.1.
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Modified date:
18 June 2025
UID
ibm17087545